Tiny Trinkets For Tweens & Teens AMNW Demo Airing on July 15, 2011
Watch the demo video right here, just click on the arrow and enjoy!
Tweens & Teens love fashion. They all have their favorite colors and love to show off their unique sense of style. Summer is a great time to create their own jewelry and accessories to match their outfits, using polymer pearl, glitter and translucent color clays and shrink plastic. Both crafts are fun and easy and are sure to keep them busy 'til school starts.
Clay Materials
NOTE: These materials lists may seem long, but they contain everything used to create all of the sample projects shown on today's show.
~Premo! Sculpey® Accents polymer clay- a color list is provided below, just above the clay instructions. (*Polyform)
~Premo! Sculpey®: Black & Cadmium Yellow Hue polymer clay (*Polyform)
~Premo! Sculpey® Mini Cutters-Sweet Treats set (*Polyform)
~Premo! Sculpey® Mini Cutters-Nature set (*Polyform)
~Plastic drinking straw or small round 1/4" Kemper Pattern Cutter
~Sculpey® Clay Mat (*Polyform)
~Dull craft knife suitable for tweens or teens (non-serrated)
~Sculpey® Acrylic Roller tool (*Polyform)
~Sculpey® Alphabet Stamper (*Polyform)
~4 large craft sticks
~8" x 10" piece of cardstock
~Masking tape
~Dimensional gel pens (shiny or matte color set)
~Blank accessories: Premo! Sculpey Oval Keychain, Premo! Round Silver Jewelry Bracelet kit, post earring backs with small round pad, fish hook style earrings, silver jump rings, silver chain link charm bracelet, silver bobby hair pins with round pad, silver ball chain necklace, small French clip barrette
~Polymer clay friendly glaze
~E-6000 or Goop glue (in tube)
~Round wood toothpick
~Baby powder or pure cornstarch
~Smooth ceramic tile or cardstock lined cookie sheet
~Optional: Jump ring tool
*To see all of the wonderful accessories, tools and free project ideas Polyform has to offer, visit the
~1" long Pinbacks (**Lucky Squirrel)
~Black neck ring with magnet clasp
~Charm Hangers with a large and small loop (**Lucky Squirrel)
~Snow Block™ sanding blocks-equivalent 400 grit (**Lucky Squirrel)
~Standard 1/4" hand-held paper hole punch tool
~Shape makers: Small pointed scissors, craft punches, cookie cutters
~Design makers: Rubber stamps, Extra-fine tip permanent black marker to draw or trace patterns (i.e. Sharpie)
~Corner round punch (shown in step 8 "Basic Shrink Plastic Instructions" below).
~Solvent based black rubber stamp ink pad (i.e. StazOn) is best, although pigment ink pads will also work
~Color: Oil colored pencils are the most saturated, soft lead or standard colored pencils, permanent markers, gel pens
~Xacto knife with standard size no. 11 blade
~Hand-held heat embossing tool (Adult supervision strongly advised for tweens and children!)
~Plastic circle template (has several graduating small sized holes) similar to a stencil)
~Plastic or metal ruler
~Non-corrugated cardboard (also called chipboard) for baking/heating surface
~Long needle tool or wood skewer (to hold plastic in place if using heat tool)
**Lucky Squirrel has lots of ideas and accessories for shrink art on the
*Premo! Accents & Premo! Sculpey colors used:
~Cupcakes & Ice Cream Cones: Magenta Pearl (#5029) mixed with half Frost White Glitter (#5057), Red Glitter (#5051) & Bronze (#5519) mixed with half Frost White Glitter
~Cherries: Red Glitter, Bronze & Bright Green Pearl (#5035)
~Sundays: Yellow Translucent (#5046), White Translucent (#5527), Bronze, Frost White Glitter, Red Glitter
~Hard Candy: White Frost Glitter
~Popsicles: Bright Green Pearl & Yellow Translucent
~Caterpillar on Leaves: Bright Green Pearl, White Frost Glitter, Black Premo Sculpey (#5042), Glitter Red with Half Premo! Sculpey Cadmium Yellow Hue for deep orange (#5572)
~Bracelet round settings: Bright Green Pearl, Purple Pearl (#5031), Premo! Sculpey Cadmium Yellow Hue
~FLY Oval Keychain: Blue Glitter (#5049) with half White Frost Glitter, Peacock Pearl (#5038), Blue Glitter, Purple Pearl
~Sun Bobby Pins: Yellow Translucent marbled with a little Red Glitter
Basic Clay Instructions
1. Polymer clay needs to be conditioned before use. Just warm it in your hands and roll and squish it until it becomes soft enough to shape.
2. Place a stack of two craft sticks about 2" apart and tape them down onto your clay mat. Place a ball of clay in-between them and roll flat with roller tool. This keeps the clay sheet even.
3. Do this for each color used in your design, then lift and move clay sliding the edge of a craft knife with a back and forth motion to lift it and secure to your ceramic tile. Cut out the same full shape from each sheet of colored clay for your design. Cut two of each color for earrings. Rub a little baby powder on the front surface of one of the shapes, stack shapes and cut through both layers of the design. Separate clay layers, wipe off any powder and secure the correct pieces of the design together like a puzzle (see cupcake). Add any clay details like a round cherry.
4. Use the dull edge of the craft knife to impress lines in designs and add small red ball cherries or other details at this point. Use a toothpick for the caterpillar eye, a hole large enough for a fish hook earwire on dangle earrings (NOT bracelet charms) and the dots that trail below the dragonflies.
5. Follow steps 2 and 3 above to create the 2 identical clay pieces for charms (add all details to both charm surfaces). Some will have 3 'puzzle' pieces to cut and assemble like the cherry, sundae and the red and white candy only one shape to cut. Turn over one charm and place on cardstock (these two- sided charms will need to be baked on cardstock or a small piece polyester fiberfill). On the back of this charm rub a very thin layer of TLS (liquid clay), place a jump ring overlapping the top edge, then place the second charm (FACE UP) on top of the first. You will have a double-sided charm with a jump ring sandwiched between so if it turns on your bracelet both sides are decorated. Follow step 10 below to add gel pen details and let dry.
6. To create the silver linked bracelet, use the earring circle setting, upside down, to cut out green circles and press into settings. Cut the flowers with mini cutter from the green background clay. Remove with knife tip. Cut out purple flowers and press into place in settings. Smooth clay flat.
7. Impress desired letters into a sheet of Cadmium Yellow Hue to spell a name or word. (I added 2 hearts with a mini stamp also, as the name was only 4 letters-see photo at top of page.) Cut out letters with a small straw or a Kemper mini circle Pattern Cutter and press onto flower centers.
8. To create the caterpillar stripes, form a sheet of black, frost white glitter and orange. Stack them on top of each other to form layers. Cut the stack in half and stack the two halves. Cut in half and stack once again. Cut off a 1/8 thick slice and lay it flat on your tile. Punch out a caterpiller from clay. Cut off the head area. Punch out a black clay caterpillar head and secure to body. Poke a tiny hole with toothpick for an eye. Punch 4 Bright Green Pearl leaves from the mini nature set cutters and cover the barrette with the leaf points facing outward, overlapping somewhat. Impress vein lines with dull edge of craft knife (see caterpillar photo above in clay colors list). Secure the caterpiller onto leaves in the center.
9. Bake the projects on your tile as directed on the clay package for the clay brand you are using. The keychain, round silver circle bracelet and necklace charm can be baked with the clay secured inside. It will not harm the metal.
10. Cool clay projects then apply a coat of glaze and allow to dry. Once dry, use dimensional gel pens (i.e. Glaze and Soufflé) to add the details (sprinkles, dots, white dot or swish highlights, red candy stripes, sundae lines on glass, white eyes with black dots for suns and outline and details for dragonflies. Go over the indented letter lines also with pens. Allow one color to dry 10 min. before going over it with another such as on the sun's eyes (see projects at top of page).
11. Secure flat pad post earrings near top of center back of post style earrings using UTB heat-activated glue (see "Using UTB Glue" below, last paragraph of web page instructions). Use needle nose or chain nose pliers to open loop on fish hook earwires, slip into hole on dangle earrings and close loop with pliers.
Basic Shrink Plastic Instructions
*IT IS IMPORTANT TO READ THROUGH THE SHRINK PLASTIC INSTRUCTIONS COMPLETELY BEFORE BEGINNING AS YOU MAY MISS A BASIC STEP WHICH IS WRITTEN NEAR THE END!
Begin by sanding one side of the shrink plastic using the snow sanding block or 320-400 grit sandpaper in a crosshatch pattern (in both directions). Note that if you are using StazOn ink with PolyShrink brand, you do not have to sand the plastic which allows for a more shiny finished surface.
PLEASE READ: After shrinking, most pigment inks become permanent. Solvent inks like StazOn is permanent ink to begin with. Your design will be about 45% its original size and about 1/16th inch thick. Punched holes shrink also!
1. The following steps each contain a different TECHNIQUE used on the PolyShrink. All pieces will need to be heated, some will need one or more holes punched and all will have a finishing step, which is described in "Shrinking Your Plastic" and "Finishing Your Projects" below.
2. If only stamping your plastic, stamp first then cut out or punch out a shape with a craft punch. Be aware that pigment inks will be wet until heated so do not smudge the design. StazOn ink dries quickly. The sample above is StazOn Cotton White Solvent Ink on black PolyShrink. I used a round craft punch larger then the original size of the stamp.
3. Start by sanding a sheet of Canvas White PolyShrink in a crosshatch pattern. Then, color in the background with medium sky blue and lime green oil pencils (Walnut Hollow) overlapping the colors a little. I colored the area large enough for two stamped images for earrings. The colors intensify quite a bit when shrunk, so don't worry that they seem very light on the plastic. I stamped a tree right over the colors with a black StazOn inkpad. Wait about 5 minutes, then cut out close to the design with scissors.
4. For this pendant, I simply stamped the design onto Canvas White PolyShrink using black StazOn ink, let it dry 5 minutes then punched out with a large round craft punch. Instructions for creating a dome shape are below.
5. This fun set of jewelry is made with Canvas White PolyShrink and black StazOn ink with a swirl patterned large rubber stamp. After five minutes of drying time, I cut out a rectangle for the pendant and two longer smaller rectangle strips for earrings. See "Shaping Your Plastic" to achieve the rippled shape.
6. This pin and earrings set of jewelry is probably my favorite. I started out sanding a sheet of translucent PolyShrink in a crosshatch pattern. I wanted the colored pencils to really show up! I used a large dress shaped cookie cutter as a template and traced around the INSIDE edge using a black oil pencil onto the PolyShrink. I used a circle template and outlined then colored in small red dots with an oil pencil, spaced evenly apart. After that I colored in the background area with a medium blue oil pencil. I repeated just the oil pencil design onto another area of the sanded PolyShrink, then punched out 2 shoes with a high heel shaped craft punch. For the striped set follow the same instructions although color background first with medium blue oil pencil then add black lines using a ruler as a guide.
7. Post earrings are just as simple as dangles. I stamped a nice rose design in Cotton White StazOn ink on black PolyShrink and let dry. I cut around design and clipped a tiny corner off each corner of the earrings to make sure they would be comfortable to wear. You can also sand any sharp edges after baking.(To add post backs, see "Using UTB Glue" below).
8. And our final technique uses clear PolyShrink with a black StazOn inkpad. I stamped two large frame images and allowed the ink to dry. I cut one frame out around the outside of one and then used an X-Acto blade knife to cut the square opening in the center. On the second image I cut off both the sides of the frame for earrings. I rounded the corners on all pieces with a corner round punch.
Punch Holes BEFORE Heating!
Note: This diagram is much smaller then your actual starting project and hole size. Using a standard paper hole punch tool, punch a hole about 1/32" from the top center of dangle (fish hook) earrings and 2 holes on opposite edges of bracelet links (as in step 2 bracelet above). Punch pendant holes about 1/16" from the top center of piece. Holes will shrink and will fit the jewelry findings well.
Shaping Your Plastic
Baked or heated PolyShrink is very pliable while it is hot. It can be smoothed flat using a second piece of cardboard, or shaped over a variety of objects (wood paper towel holder or wood drawer knob or even a rippled metal toaster oven pan) pressing with a smooth fabric potholder. When heating with heat tool, after the plastic is completely flat and shrunk all the way, immediately place the plastic on top of the shaped object and press firmly with a smooth fabric potholder to form plastic permanently into the shape.
Shrinking Your Plastic
Note: Occasionally a piece may STICK to itself as it shrinks. To separate, allow the piece to COOL and pull gently. You'll hear a tiny "snap" as the joint comes apart. You can now reheat the piece and finish shrinking.
Heating With an Embossing Heat Tool
I like the shorter wide white heat tool for it's low air flow and temperature (Heat it). Place project on non-corrugated cardboard (also called chipboard) for baking. Chipboard is like the cardboard on the back of a legal pad. Cardboard pulls less heat away from the PolyShrink as it's being heated. Move heat tool constantly.
Baking In An Oven
Place projects on cardboard or chipboard and bake in a standard oven or toaster oven, PRE-HEATED to 300º to 350º F (148º to 175º C). Avoid baking on bare metal. Expect PolyShrink to curl and move during baking. Shrinking generally takes 3-5 minutes. If the time goes over 5 minutes, the oven temp is too low. If the piece isn't perfectly flat, cool it in a flattened position using cardboard or press with a smooth fabric pot holder. This should be done immediately after removing from the oven, while the plastic is still warm and flexible.
Using UTB Glue
To finish your dangle earrings see the second photo above step 11 of the clay instructions above. Pinbacks should be secured vertically, with the latch at the top, near the top center back side of your pins (dresses) with UTB Heat-Activated Adhesive. Cut a strip (or punch a dot for post earrings) from the UTB sheet the size of the flat area on the back of the pin. Heat the back of plastic till warm. Secure the sticky side of the paper backed adhesive to the plastic near the top on the back. Heat the glue strip until the edges soften. A few bubbles may appear when ready and press the pin in place. For the bracelet, open a jump ring with needle nose pliers, slide into two black disks and close ring with pliers. A jump ring tool helps a lot! Connect all the disks then add the clasp pieces with a jump ring.
